After the global pandemic swept across the world in early 2020, remote work became the norm. Companies were forced to learn new ways of doing business and provide employees with remote access to continue their business growth. In short, enterprises were challenged with making sure employees were well informed and able to do their jobs productively and with confidence.

One thing that has become clear is that employees often do not have a consistent or reliable way to be well-informed workers. In some organizations, this strain is happening quickly, especially as more employees begin to rely on the digital workplace to be productive.

Reliance on enterprise search in the digital workplace

Most large organizations already have a digital workplace strategy. These digital workplaces likely already include enterprise search. Now, faced with the sudden need of employees to access essential information quickly, regardless of source or format, companies are realizing that the existing solutions fall short. There are some fundamental requirements that must be seriously considered to maximize the value of an enterprise search investment. These requirements include the following:

These capabilities provide significant benefits for employees in the digital workplace in several different ways. Let’s take a look at some of the key benefits.

Knowledge sharing

According to data that was collected in the 2020 Gartner CIO Survey, 90% of respondents reported that their organization faced some type of disruptive situation in the past four years. Constant change leads to out-of-date information that prevents decision making, accurate scheduling, and execution effectiveness.

Enterprise search enables organizations to surface the know-how and experience of senior managers so that the knowledge of the organization does not remain hidden when an employee leaves the company. With an enterprise search solution in place, current or future employees can easily access this information and continue doing their work with ease.

Productive employee work with a competitive advantage

Having a robust enterprise search solution in place allows employees to quickly find a document, content, or information they need, rather than spend time trying to contact other employees and disturb everyone’s workflow. This enables people to save crucial time, which can be channeled into more productive work.

Consistently well-informed employees can also provide better service to customers and improve turnaround times. Since they are saving a lot of time, they can focus on the things that really matter and also contribute more effectively to the business’ success.

Access to information

Having a robust digital workplace structure in place means easy access to information. Enterprise search in the digital workplace provides a central place to look for all files, documents, presentations, spreadsheets, weblinks, and other rich media. This makes it extremely easy for team members, irrespective of location, to access information from any device quickly.

There is no better time for organizations to invest in the tools and technology that directly drive operational efficiency. The positive impacts in terms of business continuity, cost savings, and employee empowerment can be enormous.

Scott Parker is Director of Product Marketing at Sinequa.